A funny Thing Happened Along The Way

Good Morning. No. Not funny like Haha. Funny like something unexpected.

A few weeks back I told you that I had joined the Cadre for Suicide Prevention ... well, for this duty we have regular meetings to discuss things, like issues that might have happened in the last watch, or how we can improve on the help we, the inmates, can offer, etc. Anyway. When I showed up for this months meeting, I as usual, took a seat near the door ... don't know why, just did, just do. So, as we all took our seats and waited for the Doc to show up and start the meeting I received a pleasant surprise ... when she walked in, she had a dog on a lease! Yeah, a real dog named Einstein. And man was he happy to see twenty or so men who wanted to pet him. It was crazy. He was wagging his tail and bouncing around from worshipper to worshipper ... it was amazing.

Well, it seems that the inmates at the Camp (minimum custody prison) next door actually have a program where they train, Service Dogs. They get them as puppies and raise them, train them and then ... well, I guess they go, though I don't now how, to people who need them. Cool right. Wel,l Einstein is one of the dogs they had trained over there and as he would demonstrate, was very obedient. 

After allowing each of us a few moments of interaction with Einstein the Doc called him over (he reluctantly obeyed) and ordered him to sit ... he complied; well trained. As he sat there, his tail wagging, I realized that when I took the seat by the door that I had hit the jack-pot! You see, the Doc, having no where else to sit, sat in front of the door, so Einstein was right next to me. The result was, all I had to do was to reach over and my hand would rest on his head. So, while everyone else was being involved in the the Docs class, I, was petting Einstein :) He was mine and mine alone, lol. 

As I sat there and rubbed his head he would look into my eyes. I noticed for the first time how pretty brown his eyes were. And he had this soft innocent look too ... innocent is the word. I wondered about this look. How could this look be real. No, you don't understand, I'm not trying to be romantic or poetic; his eyes were so deep and purely innocent, loving, peaceful. Later I thought about this and I wondered if humans could ever achieve this look ... maybe Jesus or Buddha or Mother Teresa ... maybe, I don't know. But I seriously doubt it. After much contemplation I could only guess at the underlying truth to Einstein. I concluded that his innocence came from the fact that he knew nothing of politics, religion, greed, beauty or the stress of expectation. He simply lived life to wag a tail, lick a hand, be petted and to obey those who cared for him. 

Could that I should achieve just one of these qualities.

Perdurabo.

 

FCI Bastrop, Texas 2-18-2026